While I got a little late in posting this recipe by few days, it is still not that late. As you’d still be able to find the last of persimmon fruit this season, somewhere tucked on the shelves of your local fruit merchant. Persimmon make their appearance although for a very short time during the months of fall season, them being the sturdy fruit with longer shelf life, they tend to stay for sometime. At least good enough for you to make something delicious out of them. Last year we enjoyed them with some yougurt and homemade granola, served in small tumblers, just as a healthy alternative to an indulgent parfait. I baked this indulgent persimmon maple upside down cake a couple of weeks back, but I couldn’t get time to publish this on the blog. Persimmons are not new to us. We’ve been enjoying these sweet pulpy fruit every year from a very long time now. On my recent trip to mountains, we enjoyed them a lot too. You’d find them in plenty on mountains, where they call it Ramphal in local language. The ones I bought were quite firm,which would be good to be baked in a cake or a pie. The recipe is from a book called Indulgent Cakes, which I bought recently. The beautiful pictures made me swoon over all the recipes in the book. While I found the pictures quite awe-inspiring, I found the recipe measurements slightly off. The proportions of butter and sugar to flour appeared way more indulgent to me, than I would generally prefer. So, I cut them down slightly and I found the final outcome perfectly sweet for my tastebuds. I would still like to try few more recipes from the book, before I come to any conclusion. To be honest, I really liked the combination of flavors which have been brought together. This has got maple syrup, persimmon, pistachios and semolina. Quite unusual pairings, yet very tasteful.
- 1 cup maple syrup
- 150 gm butter
- 3 persimmons, sliced thinly
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 1 tbsp finely grated lemon rind
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup plain flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1 1/2 cup semolina
- 3/4 cup chopped pistachios
- Preheat oven to 170 degree C. Grease a 9 inch round cake pan and line its base with parchment paper.
- Stir maple syrup and 40 gm of butter in a small saucepan over low heat for 2 minutes. Increase heat to medium and bring to boil. Let it cook for 4 minutes until mixture thickens. Cool for 5 minutes.
- Pour half of the maple syrup over base of prepared cake pan. Arrange 2/3rd of persimmon slices on base, positioning them slightly up the side of the pan.
- Beat remaining butter with sugar and lemon rind in a medium bowl, until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Beat in vanilla extract.
- Sift in flour, semolina and baking powder. Add the milk and mix to combine. Fold in the chopped pistachios.
- Carefully spread the cake batter over the persimmons in the cake pan. Bake the cake for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center of cake comes out clean.
- Stand cake in pan for 30 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the cake and then turn out on to the serving plate.
- Add remaining persimmon slices to the reserved syrup. Place pan over low heat and cook for 2 minutes. Top cake with syrupy persimmon slices and some chopped pistachios.
